Airport Difficulties

by Aoife Twomey
(Ireland)

Please cut me some slack. I'm not a writer, just a girl with a story to share.

I recently spent a few weeks studying Spanish in Salamanca, Spain. Overall the experience was phenomenal. I was lucky enough to have my classes at around 4pm, which meant the nights were late. I had some amazing times there, met some amazing people and it truly was an experience I will never forget.

However, there are certain incidents I'd prefer to forget. The main incident occurring on the last night, when my good friend slipped and burst her forehead open. A quick trip to the hospital and 4 stitches later, I was pretty peeved that our last night had been ruined. However, we had a bus to catch at 8am which left no time for arguments.

We woke late, and hurried to get all of our things together. Luckily all we forgot was the food and drinks we'd brought for the journey.
The 2 hour bus journey was spent catching some much needed z's and as our bus pulled into Madrid airport, we dragged ourselves and our baggage into the departures. Our flight wasn't for another few hours so we put all our baggage down and entertained ourselves.

After only a few minutes, that same friend with the stitches, realized her purse was left on the bus. I didn't worry much, she didn't have any money in it, but you can imagine our panic when we realized her boarding pass was in it.

I was left minding the bags while the others ran around looking for some kind of solution. We had no money and at that moment I couldn't stop thinking about the possibility of us not being able to go home. I sat there, hungover, tired, extremely worried and close to tears. Being stuck in a foreign country with absolutely no way to get home, I was panicking.

Suddenly, in the far distance I could hear someone singing. A man singing. As the voice grew closer, I could see who it was. A young, negro man. Quite handsome too. He pushed a trolley through terminal 2, singing as loud as he could with a huge smile on his face.

It was obvious he was an employee at Madrid airport, with an incredible voice. As I watched with awe, he turned and looked at me, and proceeded to sing to me. People were watching, and I blushed.

But at that moment, a sudden feeling of complete calmness flowed over me. It felt like someone had taken anything negative in my body away. It was a magnificent experience. Something as simple as a singing man in an airport, made me almost tear up with wonder.

I couldn't understand why it affected me so much, I still don't understand why. But all I know is I experienced something outstanding that day, something beyond a girl in an airport, and a man singing. Something happened to me that Sunday morning. Something I can only describe as magical. I hope someday that man sees this, and understands that what didn't mean very much to him, meant so very much to me.

The moral of the story is obvious isn't it?